How To Become A Saint

Isaiah 25: 6-8 & Revelation 21: 1-5a

Roger Lynn

October 28, 2018

All Saints

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We are just a few days away from November 1st, the day when the church traditionally celebrates “All Saints.” The idea of a saint has taken on various meanings over the years, but in its original usage in the New Testament, it is roughly synonymous with “the faithful” or “those who belong to Christ.” So, for example, Paul writes to the Church in Rome and says, “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints...” (Romans 1:7) With this understanding of the word, it becomes an expansive and inclusive concept, rather than narrow and exclusive.

So, how does one go about becoming a saint? What are the pre-requisites? What are the job requirements? What do we need to do? Natural enough questions, but mostly they reveal the limitations of our human perspective. Most of the time it seems as if we approach situations with the idea that we can accomplish whatever is necessary if only we can figure out what needs to be done and how best to do it. Which works remarkably well if we are trying to build a bridge across a river or learn a foreign language or decode genetic information. But when it comes to relationships, both human and divine, such an approach has serious limitations. And relationship is finally what being a saint is all about. We can’t just collect enough data and feed it into a computer in just the right way and come up with the formula for sainthood. At the heart of the matter, sainthood is a new way of relating with God and with each other. It is living in the presence of God. It isn’t so much about what we do as it is about who we are. And who we are is defined by the fact that we are fully and completely loved by God. When we begin to live into that reality then we begin to discover what is already true – we are already a part of the communion of God’s beloved saints.

A Word of Hope from a Patient but Insistent God

Luke 18: 1-8

Roger Lynn

October 21, 2018

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There is much in our world which cries out for justice and healing. You can make the list as easily as I can – wars and violence, hatred and intolerance, suffering and disease, isolation and loneliness. The brokenness of our world spans the spectrum from the global to the personal. And through all the tears we continue to wonder why – why is it happening and why isn’t God doing something about it? 

Jesus’ parable which we read this morning has often been offered as a response to our questions of why. And I confess that the interpretation it usually receives has frequently left me less than satisfied. In fact, it is seriously problematic. God is the unjust, uncaring judge and we are the poor, bereft widow. We don’t know why God doesn’t respond to our needs, but if we keeping beating on God’s door until we’ve made a complete nuisance of ourselves, then perhaps God will do something just so we will go away. 

It scores points in the “God’s ways are a mystery to us” category, but is not very appealing when it comes to offering a helpful image of God or a hopeful understanding of our own situation. The assurance Jesus offers at the end of the parable, that God will surely not delay in offering us justice, seems out of sync with the common interpretation of the parable.

Believing in God plus Experiencing God

Jeremiah 31: 33-34a & Revelation 21: 3-5a

Roger Lynn

October 14, 2018

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“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” From time to time I see this message proclaimed from a billboard along the side of the highway. And every time I see it I wonder to myself, “What does that even mean?” For one thing, it is archaic language. We don’t actually talk that way any more. So I don’t really know what it means to believe “on” Jesus. It is not my intention to belittle people who use such language to express their faith. It just doesn’t work for me, in part because of the archaic language, but perhaps more significantly because of the emphasis on “believing.” As it was originally used when the New Testament was first written, the word “believe” was closely related to the word “trust.” It was personal, connectional, and relational. In short, in was powerfully heart centered. Unfortunately, over the last 2,000 years our understanding of this incredibly important word has largely migrated away from the heart and taken up residence in the head. Believing has become synonymous with giving assent to a set of precepts, principles, and dogmas. It frequently ends up being little more than an intellectual exercise. “Yes, I believe that this check-list of ideas is true.” There are conversations about God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but all too often such conversations don’t actually involve anything that could be described as personal experience. It stays in the head but doesn’t touch the heart. 

Admittedly this is a big generalization. Of course there are many people who use words like “believe” to describe their faith who have rich, vibrant, personal, heart-centered relationships with God. At the same time, however, I suspect that there are many other people for whom words such as “believe” prove to be a barrier which limits their access to the transforming power of a deep personal experience of Sacred Presence (aka God). It can be something like the picture on the front of the bulletin. Both halves of the image reveal a butterfly, but without the heart connection which comes with personal experience our perceptions can lack color and depth and vibrancy. 

When I first conceived of this sermon I titled it “Believing in God versus Experiencing God.” But then I began actually working on it, and as I started to put words together and what I really wanted to say began to take shape I came to realize that my thinking had evolved and the title needed to be changed. The word “versus” needed to be replaced. It isn’t an either/or, this versus that, contrasting competition sort of a thing. It’s not that believing is bad and experiencing is good. What I am really trying to suggest is that it takes both halves to make a whole. Head and heart are both needed.

That having been said, however, I still come back to my main concern. Head and heart may both be needed, but for a long time now we have had a tendency to over-value what happens in our heads and under-value what happens in our hearts. So our lives, and our faith, have tended to become out of balance. Of course we need to pay attention to the work of our intellect. Words matter. Ideas matter. But without the important work that takes place in the heart our words and ideas tend to calcify and become rigid. We have a tendency to turn them into rocks to throw at people who disagree with us instead of blankets to wrap around people who need to be comforted. There is a need to give the heart its due, so that we can find our balance once again. In the words of Carrie Newcomer, “Let your head help, but let your heart talk.” In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, as he sought to speak on behalf of God, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)  It’s all about relationship. It’s all about connection. It’s all about experience. And when we get in touch with that truth then everything is transformed.

We might not be able to see God. We might not always be able to understand God. But it is within our grasp to experience God. When the wind blows I can’t see it, and I do not understand the physics behind what makes it blow, but I can feel it on my face. When I am in the presence of someone I love it is not necessary for me to “believe” that they are real or that they have a powerful impact in my life. I simply know it because my heart perceives the deep truth of our connection. 

Let the word go forth among us from this day on, that God is inviting us to live ever more fully into the experience of being in connection with the Sacred Presence which surrounds us and fills us in every moment of our living. Let us take our faith to the next level as we bring head and heart into balance. Let us step boldly into this new reality as we open ourselves to the power of being touched and moved and transformed by an ongoing encounter with the Divine. Amen.

The Meal Which Unites Us

1 Corinthians 10: 16-17 & 1 Corinthians 11: 23-25

Roger Lynn

October 7, 2018

World Communion Sunday

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Why do we do it? Why do we continue to gather around the communion table and share together in this symbolic feast? Because Jesus did it? Almost 2,000 years ago a man shared a meal with twelve of his friends on the night before he died. What does that have to do with us? Because Paul told the Church at Corinth it was important? Paul told the early churches lots of things. Why have we chosen to make this one so central to our lives? Because it has been a part of the Church’s tradition for almost 20 centuries. “Because we’ve always done it this way” is not the firmest of foundations upon which to build a solid and lasting community. 

Perhaps we gather to break the bread and share the cup because we hope and pray and believe that it is true – that behind the symbols and the words and the rituals which make up this thing we call Communion or the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist stands nothing less than the very presence of God. We trust it is God whom we find here. We believe it is God’s Grace which is revealed in the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the cup. We hope that around this table we will discover the source for abundant life.

But even then – even when we can make that kind of affirmation of faith about the Lord’s Supper – we must still return to the question, “Why do we do it?” Or at least we must ask, “Why do we do it this way?” It is not a private endeavor, this communion which we share. It is a celebration which is open to all who will come. Indeed, it is most fully experienced and most deeply rewarding when it is fully shared with those around us. This is not simply about our relationship with God – it is also about our relationship with one another. As we encounter God’s love we are opened to the possibility of loving each other. As we experience God’s grace we are empowered to share forgiveness with our neighbor. We gather around this table and share together in this sacred ritual in the hopes that we will encounter God and each other in ways which will transform our lives, our living, and our world.

And what makes all of this particularly amazing is that we continue to hold out such hope in spite of our track record thus far. After almost 2,000 years of striving to be the Church which God calls us to be, we have seen fights and splits and wars over how we gather around this table, and what happens when we gather here, and who can gather here, and who can preside here. We live in a time when there are more different denominations than there are kinds of cars, and all of them, in one form or another, view the Lord’s Supper as being important, and yet many of us are barely on speaking terms with each other. The United Church of Christ is a denomination which brought together four diverse groups of churches in an effort to experience the unity of the Body of Christ, and yet there are still conflicts and divisions within our ranks. During my time in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) I attended numerous gatherings of their biennial General Assembly, where we shared the bread and the cup with several thousands people, even though the tension which was present around issues being addressed at the assembly threatened to tear us apart at the seams. 

The Church’s track record has not supported our claim that “at the Table of the Lord we are made one with the whole people of God.” Paul’s assertion that “we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” has often seemed more theoretical than practical. But perhaps our persistence in returning to the table, even in the face of such overwhelming failure, makes a claim for the ability of God’s grace to transcend even the shortcomings of the whole Church. We gather today to celebrate World Communion Sunday. In countless places around the world, in a wide variety of settings, using a diversity of languages and traditions and practices, countless millions of people will meet to share the bread and the cup which is the Lord’s Supper. We remember that today we are joined not just by those who are here in this place, or even by those who share with us in the United Church of Christ, but by Christians of every time and every place who gather around this table and share together in this meal. And as we do so we readily acknowledge that full, concrete, practical unity has not yet been achieved among us. Indeed, in more ways than we even care to think about we have a very long way to go. But even the longest of journeys begins with a single step, and is sustained by continuing to take one step at a time. Today we take one small step as we remember that we are not alone around this table. The reality is that we are all united in Christ. By the grace of God may we begin to live into that reality with our whole being. Come, let us gather together around this most expansive of tables!